IRAN – THE CRITICAL HOUR – AT 7:17 P.M. ET:  It's already February 11th in Tehran, although dawn is hours away. 

February 11th is the day when the West has been promised some kind of punch by Iran's supreme office manager, or whatever he is.  It's also the day when mass democracy demonstrations may come off.  We say may because the regime has been arresting democracy leaders for months, and executing some of them.  (You'll notice the uproar from "human rights" advocates.)  We hope the demonstrations do get mounted, and help to weaken the mullahs still further.

In the meantime, the United States has taken some baby steps to show "toughness" toward Iran, as Fox reports:

The Obama administration is imposing new sanctions on several affiliates of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, targeting one person and four companies for penalties over their alleged involvement in producing and spreading weapons of mass destruction.

The White House on Wednesday slapped new sanctions on several affiliates of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corp. in response to Iran's defiant move to bolster its uranium enrichment program to levels capable of producing an atomic bomb.

The new sanctions target one person and four companies for penalties over their alleged involvement in producing and spreading weapons of mass destruction.

The Treasury Department announced Wednesday that it would freeze the assets in U.S. jurisdictions of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Rostam Qasemi and four subsidiaries of a construction firm that he commands and was hit with U.S. sanctions in 2007. The sanctions expand existing U.S. unilateral penalties against elements of the Guard Corps, which Western intelligence believes is spearheading Iran's nuclear and missile programs.

President Obama said he's "bent over backwards" to engage Iran in "constructive" dialogue and the U.S. will push the United Nations to sanction the country. Iran told nuclear inspectors on Wednesday that it will begin higher-grade uranium enrichment within days, Reuters reported.

COMMON:  That's one small step for a man, and a nothing leap for mankind. 

These are small, symbolic actions.  No one in Iran will go broke over them.  As for the UN, there are now reports that China may agree to "some" form of sanctions.  But unless sanctions are overwhelming, and threaten the regime, they'll have no real effect.   There are already sanctions on Iran.  Their nuclear program has not changed.  And China, an ally of Iran, will never agree to significant sanctions.

Next move?  Administration officials are already talking about things "taking time."  In other words, kick the can further. 

Obama certainly knows that only serious action – a naval blockade, massive sanctions that cripple Iran's economy, even a direct military strike – are the only things that can produce the effect we want.  But Obama is Obama, a profoundly left-wing ideologue who has no stomach for anything that actually works.

February 10, 2010